SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State's men's soccer team shook off a Sacramento State goal in the first two minutes of the game by responding with two goals of its own in the next 15 minutes to cruise to a 2-1 victory Sunday afternoon at the SDSU SportsDeck. The Aztecs improve to 3-5-1 in the Mountain Pacific (3-11-2 overall), while the Hornets fall to 4-6 in the MPSF (5-10-1 overall).

"I am really excited that we got a reward for all the hard work the team has put in," SDSU head coach Lev Kirshner said. "We played like this last year, and have at times this season but haven't got the result. Today we did."

Sacramento State's goal came just two minutes into the first half on a quick cross into the SDSU box that Ryan Rhoads fired into the net.

The Aztecs struck back quickly in the seventh minute when SDSU's Frank Caruso and Andrew DiCicco deftly headed passes forward into the Sacramento State box, where Trey Meek scored his second goal of the season. Meek wasn't done for the day as 10 minutes later he passed to teammate Heath Creager who pushed a pass off of a Hornet defender that Frank Caruso found far post and tapped in for his second goal of 2004.

SDSU continued the pressure throughout the game, and could have scored on three additional chances if it wasn't for the play of Sacramento State's goalkeeper Matt McDougall, who made nine saves on the day. His best moment came when he kept freshman David Dally from scoring his second goal of his career with a spectacular save falling backwards into the net.

For the game, SDSU outshot the Hornets (21-9) and attempted more corner kicks (6-5). Aztec keeper Tally Hall only had to make two saves on the day as the Aztec defense allowed only three shots on goal.

"It was a team effort today," Kirshner said. "Everyone played as well as they have all season, especially Matt Couch. He was unbelievable today. (Andrew) DiCicco was as good as he has been all season."

SDSU hits the road next week for a pair of MPSF matches Nov. 5 at Denver at 3 p.m. and Nov. 7 at Air Force at noon.